


Isolation

by BeautifulLooksUgly



Series: What comes out of isolation [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Androids, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Domestic Fluff, Drama, Fluff, M/M, Married Couple, Miscommunication, Not Underage, Not exactly Peter Parker, Parent Peter Parker, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Smart Peter Parker, Tony Stark Has A Heart, well something like that
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:21:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29385474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeautifulLooksUgly/pseuds/BeautifulLooksUgly
Summary: Five years later, the world is still grieving what they lost. Nobody is living, nobody is moving on. So when Scott Lang comes back with a solution, they know they have to take a stand. The problem is they can’t do this on their own, their only solution been a man who long ago isolated himself and erased all trace of himself from earth so he would never be bother again. They were only hopping that Tony Stark was still on his right mind. Should be easy enough, right?Well, let’s say that they were definitely not expecting the door to be open by the one they thought lost long ago.
Relationships: Peter Parker/Tony Stark
Series: What comes out of isolation [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2166873
Comments: 12
Kudos: 69





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, hello? I can't believe someone is actually reading this, that's insane. Well, let's make this short 'cause this took an insane amount of time to be finally finish, also because I never felt like this was perfect enough to finally be published and I still don't think it is BUT two month of correcting small things is just an awful lot amount of time so let's go with it and hope for the best.  
> One last thing, I basically took inspiration from the Androids in the game Detroit: Become human so, in case there are some things that are not that well explained here, you can check there that they probably explained it better than I did. I will now shut up and let you read, see you at the end!

Finding someone to talk about the matter wasn’t the problem, the problem was trying to make that person listen. You see, when you lose someone special, it’s unpredictable how one could react. One of those outcomes could be to vanish from existence and close all contact with relatives for five years, and that one is one of the worse one. How do you get that person back? Well, they were hoping that a plan and a bit a hope would be enough.

But would it be?

Too late to turn back now, the spy of the group had already track the genius down, even if he had erased all information related to his life from the world and now they were finally there, parked in front of a cabin far away from the city, in the middle of the woods to be exact, wondering if what they had thought would be enough to bring the man to their side, if the plan would be good enough to make it worth his time. They could only hope it was because they didn’t know what they would do if it wasn’t.

When the team got off the car, the place was awfully quiet, just the wind hitting the leafs on the trees. They didn’t allow themselves to believe that the place was unoccupied, Natasha was never wrong, so they keep going until they reached the porch, knocking at the door softly at first.The wanted to say that they were surprise when the door did not open a couple of seconds later, but that wasn’t the case. Scott tried to look through the windows, starting to get uneasy but the polarized windows did not allow him to see much.

Maybe the little hope that they had brought was starting to fade away.

Steve raise his hand once again, not willing to give up just yet and knock one more time, louder this time in case the man could not hear them.

It was not necessary.

The moment his knuckles were about to touch the wood, a small click was heard and the door started to open. Instinctively, everybody took a step back, giving the person behind the door some space and their best nostalgic smile. But the smile did not last very long.

“Well this is unexpected.” A soft voice said, showing them a big smile with pearly white teeth.

Steve looked over at Natasha, trying to get an explanation out of her but the only thing he saw was the shook in her eyes before she covered her face with one of her hands, stepping away from the scene. He knew what she was thinking, the man had finally lost his mind.

There was no other explanation.

There, standing right in front of them in what they hope was flesh and bone, stood none other than Peter Parker, the boy they thought lost long ago.

Silence was once again the one that filled the moment, no one knowing what to say right away.

Well, except one of them.

“I’m sorry, did we get to the wrong house or what? Who are you?” Scott asked, trying to understand the situation and the actitud of his partners.

“Oh yeah, sorry. I don’t think we had the time to introduce ourselves on that battle in the airport. Which, by the way, it was a completely honor to fight against you captain and I’m sorry that we had to met in such a situation but I had to make a good impression.” Peter started to ramble but he did not get an answer from Steve Rogers who just stood there, froze in place. “Sorry, I’m rumbling, tends to happen. I’m Spiderman or, at least, I used to be; I’m Peter Stark most of the time.”

Once again, silence.

For a few second, the boy thought he had said something wrong until…

“Wait, so Stark adopted you?” Scott asked and Peter giggled.

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Papa!”

They all turn around, finding a little girl running towards them, crashing onto Peter’s legs even though the boy didn’t even flinch at the impact, picking the girl up as if she weighed nothing. Of course, super strength was involve.

“You won’t believe what that little monster took out of the lab again, she is such a…” All eyes where now on the man talking who was definitely not expecting such a big surprise. “ Right. I guess this was going to happen someday.”

.

.

.

“So, let me get this straight…”

“I know what you are gonna say and I know what it sounds like but…” Tony snorted, interrupting Scott.

“Oh, you know? Thank god, you had me worried for a moment.” He answered, turning around to pick up a jar with a thick liquid on it, pouring it into different glasses, awaiting for whatever madness was coming next.

“Tony, after everything you’ve seen, is it really impossible?” Steve questioned, making Tony frown.

“Quantic fluctuation messes with the Planck scale which then triggers the Deutsch proposition, can we agree on that?” Was the simple answer from the man, which did not look that simple judging from the expresiones his partners got in their faces. Tony just decided to ignore them and searched for a more simple explanation while hanging the glasses to the people around him.

“Thank you.” The captain muttered, but when it was Scott’s turn, the only answer he got was a disgusted frown, not finding the beverage very appetizing.

“In lameness terms it means you are not coming home.”

“I did.”

“No, you accidentally survived. It’s a billion to one cosmic fluke.” Tony sight, putting his own glass down. “And now you wanna pull a… What did you call it?” He asked, frowning.

“A… time heist?” Scott shruged, a bit doubtful and a bit proud of the original name he came out with. Once again, Tony couldn’t help but scoffed.

“Yeah, time heist, of course.” The man said, sarcasm filling his voice. “Why didn’t we think of this before? Oh, because is laughable? Cuz is pipe dream?”

“The stones are in the past.” Steve answered, showing confidence, looking as serious as he could be, as if he wasn’t just trusting a most likely fantasy. “We can go back, we can get them.”

“We can snap our own fingers, we can bring everybody back.” Natasha added, showing more confidence into this madness.

“Or screw up even more than he already has, right?” Tony finished ‘cause he didn’t have anything else to say about this plan, it was unviable for him. Just a bunch of people trying to be optimistic.

He must say that sometimes he missed that silly optimism.

“Maybe your solution is not as impossible as ours then.” The captain then said, crossing his arms.

“I’m sorry, care to explain?” Tony asked, frowning.

“You brought Peter Parker back.”

“I didn’t.”

“The first thing you told me coming out of that ship was that you lost the kid and now he is here, you did something.” Steve sentenced, reminding Tony of all those memories that he had worked so hard to forget.

“Well, yeah. I did something, but I wouldn’t exactly call it that way.”

“And how would you call it?”

“You won’t like it.” Tony said quickly, not meeting his eyes.

“Tony, what did you do?” Natasha asked this time, worried filling his voice.

And it wasn’t a surprise that they always assumed the worst of him, Tony had built a reputation, but was he really ready to spill it all out? He didn’t know if they would understand or how they would react. You see, Tony had done a lot of bad things through his life, he had made horrible mistakes and tried his best to solve them. He could deal with a bit of distrust from the team and he would accept that they could be right, but not when people he care of could be at risk. He wanted, no, needed to keep his family safe at all cost and if that also meant lying to his group then he would do it. He would give everything up just for his boy to be safe.

Sadly, even if he wanted to lie or even keep himself quiet, there was someone out therewith such an innocent and pure soul that could not stand that kind of attitude.

“I’m not Peter Parker.” The young man suddenly said, stepping out of the house. Everyone looked at him as if he had lost his mind but the boy didn’t back out, even if he knew he had talk out of impulse. Tony stared at him, biting his lip.

“And I’m not Peter Stark either.” Peter said, looking completely serious though his body seemed to be trying to make itself smaller. “I’m Pete-R if you will.”

Everyone looked conflicted, unable to understand what was going on or what was right to say.

“What does that mean?”

But Tony didn’t listen to Natasha, he just left out the air he had been holding, shaking his head while his right hand went to scrape the back of his neck.

“So you know.” The boy looked at the man and then lowered his head, ashamed.

“Please don’t be mad.”

“No, sweetheart. I’m never mad at you.” Tony answered in a reassuring voice, the smaller boy crashing his body with the older man, his face hidden in the nape of his neck. They both knew they had some talking to do later, they didn’t need words to confirm it, silence signals always worked better for them.

“I’m so confuse.” Scott let out loud his thoughts, looking at everyone's face for some answers and, finally, to the boy in Tony Stark’s arms, not being able to identify what was wrong with him. In his eyes, he looked human and safe, or at least he did until Steve raised his voice.

“Tony, again?” Steve asked bitterly, resentment filling his voice.

“I have an explanation.”

“Of course you have, with Ultron you also had one.”

“This is different.”

“How is it? You get bored and you put the whole world in danger? Hasn’t it gone through enough yet?”

“I’m not dangerous.” Peter interfered quickly, standing up for himself.

“And what guarantees do we have at this point?”

“I'm gonna stop you right there, captain. You did not come here for him so talk what you have to and then leave us both alone.” Tony state, sitting down. Peter followed him in a chair next to him. Steve stared at the man for a few moments, then his eyes moved to the kid, trying to stay calm and actually believe the boys words besides his past experiences. “Where were we? Oh yeah, there is no logical or tangible way for me to execute said… ‘Time heist’. I believe most likely outcome will be our collect demise.”

“Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel.” The moment those words left Scott’s mouth, Peter left out a small giggle, making everybody look at him, confused.

Peter knew what the guy was about to say and it would literally sound as a joke, even if he was a tiny bit right, for as far as he know.

Anyway, Scott tried not to pay that much of attention to the boy, taking a sit right in front of Tony, looking as if he was ready to give the speech of his life.

“That means not talking to our past selves, no vetting on sportingevents…”

“Oh, like Back in the Future.” Peter said, his eyes shining with a little excitement to where this was going.

“Yes! Exactly like…” Scott stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the older man unbelievable face. “Well, no, not so much like that.”

“And here I thought you were the only one with the pop culture references.” Tony said, rolling his eyes, not even looking at his boy. “So Scott, are you serious telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back to the Future?” And when Tony finished talking, Scott let out a little nervous laugh, a little bit scare that maybe, just maybe, he just fucked everything up. “Is it?” Scott shook his head.

“No.” Scott answered trying to look dead serious.

“Good, you had me worried there ‘cause that’d be horse shit.” Tony took a deep breath before he kept talking. “ That’s not how quantic physics works.”

“Tony” Natasha started talking, looking devastated seeing that the meeting was going down hill. “We have to take a stand.” Tony looked at who he may call one of his closest friends, even after all the betrayal.

“We did stand. And yet here we are.” Everyone looked at each other, feeling pity for one another and disappointed at how all had turn out.

“I know you have a lot in the line.” Scott started, first staring at Peter and then back to Tony. “I know you now have a daughter but you also lost someone very important to you, exactly how I did and how a lot of other people did. And now, now we have a chance to bring them back, to bring everyone back and you are telling me that you won’t even try just because you found a replacement for your lost?!” The moment he finished yelling, a small crack was heard.

All attention was set on Peter whose shiny eyes, wet with tears, were staring at the nothingness right in front of him, his right hand crushing the arm of his chair. When he felt all the eyes on him, he came back to reality, quickly wiping up his eyes and standing up.

“I’m gonna go um… Check how Liz is doing? You all staying for lunch? I’m gonna set the table for six if you wanna stay for lunch, I’m just…” He stopped rambling, disappearing through the door as quick as the wind. He was hurt, of course he was and Tony knew it but he would take care of that later, when his boy had finished crying his feelings out. He knew how much his lover hated being seen crying.

Scott took a deep breath, knowing deep down that he had completely fucked up and he was very sorry. He wasn’t a mean person, he never meant to say all those things, his temper just took the worst of him.

“Look man, I’m sorry…”

“You are right, Scott. I won’t even.” Tony finished in a whisper. Scott looked at him shocked at first but, in the end, he just took a deep breath and nod, accepting his failure. “I can’t.” And with that said, he stood up from his chair. “I wish you had come here to ask me something else, anything else.” Tony started walking to the door, avoiding all the desperate eyes that where on him. “I’m honestly happy to see you, it was… Oh, as Peter said, the table is set if you wanna stay…”

“Tony” Steve Rogers interrupted his friend, putting a hand on his arm. “I get it, you found something special and I think nobody here would be right to judge. I’m happy for you, I really am.” The soldier said, honesty being obvious in his voice. But then, he had to come back to reality, a reality where the world was falling apart. “But this is a second chance.”

And it was, wasn’t it? Tony could think about it, try to sympathize with them 'cause what they were saying was true. The world needed the avengers to solve this mess, even if it meant screwing up even worse than before they would understand cause, right now, nobody was living, they were just waiting for a miracle or just… death. Not many were able to move on. Tony could help, he was the smartest mind of this era, of course he could try and come up with a solution. But then, Tony would look throw the window and stare at his beautiful boy and daughter, laughing and playing, and Tony knew he could not lose that. Happiness could not be taken away from him again, even if it was selfish.

“I got my second chance right here, cap.” Tony said not even hesitating, his eyes glued to the window, then on Steve. “I can’t roll the dice on it.” And that was his final choice, he would not let anyone change his mind, he couldn’t. “If you don’t talk job, you can stay for lunch.”

But they didn’t. They understood his fear and they knew that, if they were about to find a solution, they would need a bigger brain.

.

.

.

.

Peter knew Tony was just looking for an excuse to stop, even if he was in the lab pretending to be finding a way to make possible time travel, he wasn’t. All he wanted was for this to be over and keep living their lives as it was, but could they?

The man was so close to success, he was just shy of it, a little help wouldn’t hurt, right? That’s what Peter told himself when he hacked into his files, making little adjustments to his numbers and changing a few words. He let out a deep breath when he saw the numbers changing, how Tony was getting closer and closer to figuring out until…

Peter got out of the system, setting down the tablet. He didn’t need to look at the watch in his wrist to notice that his nerves were sky- high, little knots forming at the pit of his tummy, showing how his anxiety was taking over him. He let his eyes wander around the room, trying to distract himself with anything. The fireplace in front of him seemed like a good place to start.

He knew the man would get it, he had to, the damage was already done. It was just a matter of little time ‘till he see the result of his actions. But, deep down, he knew it was the right thing to do and he also knew that Tony would understand it. They have to do this, whatever it takes.

“Not that is competition…” The voice of the older man started to fill the room, getting louder as he got closer. Peter took a deep breath, drawing his lest frighten smile on his face.“But she finally called me ‘Daddy’.” Tony entered the room saying, pride all over his face, a stick of a juice pop in his mouth. “That leaves your ‘papa’ in the dirt.” Peter laughed at that.

“That’s amazing, now I won’t be the only one to call you that.” The boy said, a genuine smile filling his face.

“Brat.” Tony muttered, trying to hide the smirk that was sneaking into his face. “You better not say things like that in front of her.”

“Yes, daddy.” Was the answer he got, his pure and angelic boy looking at him with his most innocent eyes. They weren’t actually into any kind of ‘Daddy kink’ but that word would sometimes slip from Peter’s tongue when he was in a mischievous mode. “You look a bit shaken up, is everything okay?” Peter now asked, a bit of a frown in his face and false curiosity filling his voice. Tony just nod.

“Yeah, just going throw everything that happened today.”

“You sure that’s all…?”

“I figured it out.” Tony let out, speaking faster than normal, his hands shaking a little as his fingers played with the stick.

“Oh.” Was all that came out of Peter mouth, making the older man start to suspect that something was off.

“You don’t look surprised, why don’t you look surprise?” The boy just shrugged, flinching a little when Tony pulled away the blanket that was on him, the holographic tablet on his lap. The man just sight. “You little bastard.”

“I’m sorry?”

“You are not." Tony answered, rolling his eyes. Peter just stayed silent for a bit, limiting himself to just nod. “So you figured it out.”

“Actually, you did, I just fixed a few numbers.”

“Why?”

“Because it was the right thing to do.”

“Peter, no.”

“They need you, Tony. The world does, you can’t just give up on them.”

“I can because I can’t help everyone.” Tony said, crossing his arms. His eyes stuck in the ridiculous expensive fireplace. “I could stop.” Tony suddenly said, Peter looking at him with sad eyes ‘cause he knew that was not an option. He would not let him give up. “I could just put a pin on it and stop, take you to bed and pretend I never discovered any of this.” After hearing that, Peter let out a soft laugh, shaking his head.

“But would you be able to actually rest?” Peter asked in a whisper, making Tony turn to look at him, letting out the air he was holding.

“I would if that means I get to keep you and her safe from everything.” Tony answered without second thinking anything. “You know what would happen if we keep going and succeed, right?” And at that, Peter just stayed silence.

Of course he knew, how couldn’t he? And because he knew, Peter couldn’t let Tony see how bad that thought affected him. So he turned around, letting a soft sight come out of his lips. As if it was a reflect, his eyes stopped at the stairs, looking up for a second and then landing on the floor, lost in the thought of losing who he most cared about.

Deep down, Peter knew that that day would probably come, even if it was a very tiny chance. Now that it felt so close by, he couldn’t help but feel a little bit blue.

“I know.” Peter finally said, looking right back at him, tears forming in his eyes. “And it would be the right thing to do.”

“Peter, no.” Tony opened his mouth to say something more but he found no excuse to fight back his husbands words, of course he was right, he had always been the voice of reason in this relationship. Instead, he let out a frustrated sight, his hand pulling his hair slightly. “Why do you have such a good heart?”A small giggle was the answer he got.

“Well, you might have to ask that to my creator, don’t you think?”

“Oh no, don’t put that on me. That golden heart of yours is not my work, you developed that on your own.”

“I’m able to do that?”

“Peter, I lost count of what you are and what you are not capable of doing.” Tony answered finally, rolling his eyes. Peter opened his mouth to say something back, probably to try and deny the truth but, before he was even able, a small creature covered in fur jumped into the couch, starting to purr and rub himself into Peter’s arm asking for attention. Tony left out a small laugh. “There you go, that’s your answer.” The man said, looking as the cat snuggle himself by Peter’s side. The young boy let out a small chuckle, extending his hand so his husband would take it and make him company in the couch.

But Tony didn’t hold his hand right away, his eyes stuck staring at that pale arm, that robotic hand that was extending it’s pearlescent white and silver fingers for him to grab them. He may have stare a bit too long ‘cause Peter retracted his arm, looking at it for a short amount of time before covering with his skin once again.

“Sorry, I’m sorry.” He quickly said, a short laugh escaping from his lip trying to lighten the mood and it would have worked if it hadn’t sound so empty. He tended to retract his skin from time to time, specially when he was working in the lab or hacking technology, it was easier to access to the system in that way. It was also a bit more sensitive. But the only problem was that Tony didn’t seem a big fan of that. “I forgot, sorry, I…” He looked down at his hands, biting his bottom lip in a way that tugged at Tony’s heart-strings.

“Don’t you dare say ‘Sorry’ again. If you do, I swear I’m going to erase that word from your vocabulary.” Tony interrupted him, finally sitting right next to him.

“I… “ Peter swallow, lowering his face. Tony knew him too well that he could just read into him. “Yeah, right. Okey, I can do that.” He whispered, feeling one of Tony’s hand under his chin, raising his face until they were both making eye contact. Once again, Peter bite his bottom lip, hopping that Tony was not staring too deeply into his eyes. That would just remind him of how this wasn’t his Peter.

He knew he was not a perfect copy, and Tony had been honest with him since day one. Even if he wasn’t exactly the same, he was created to replace Peter and at first that did not bothered him but, as time went by, he started to get more and more confused about his existence. He knew he was alive, beating heart and all, but there was something that just did not make Peter comfortable.

He had looked so many times at photos of the real Peter and yeah, they were similar but also they were so different.

Pete-R was just a touch too perfect. No moles or scars anywhere, not even the messy eyebrow, he was basically flawless and even though Tony had explain to him that those were just details that did not belong to him, he still wasn’t satisfied with that answer.

Was he just a perfect recreation? Or Was there anything that actually make him himself? Well, he started searching for that. Some kind of little mistake that would make him more his own persona.

And then, one day, Tony dropped the coffee he had on his hands. A pair of eyes, filled with fear, stared at him. One of them was still the warmest honey brown with soft flecks of honeyed gold, as it had always been, and the other one was too. Except now it had a mesmerizing curve of a cobalt ocean across the iris.

Tony was completely astonished for a few moments and Peter just stand there, awaiting for the worst, for the yelling to start or even for the man to stomp over to him and just hit him until he changed back.

“That’s breathtaking.”

Wait, what?

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.” The man answered, a warm smile on his face. He came closer to him, one of his hands caressing his cheek while it lifted his face so he could have a better look of his art.

“Mesmerizing”

Peter blinked a few times, bringing himself back to reality, a warm smile welcoming him back.

“Hi.” The boy whispered, making Tony chuckle.

“Hi yourself.” The man said back, softly. “You back with me, Pete?” The boy nodded a few times, maybe too many, making the older man laugh again. “Good, you had me worried there.” The boy chuckled, blushing a little.

“You will be getting your Peter back.” Peter said in a whisper, lowering his gaze, a sad smile on his face. The older man frown, confused by those words.

“I guess so…?” He answer, a bit dubious, still trying to read into the situation. Peter just stayed there, his eyes on staring at nothing in particular. Tony didn’t hurry him, he knew that the boy was having an internal fight with himself.

Finally, Peter decided to let out the air he was holding and go for it.

“Can I ask you for something?” He started, his gorgeous eyes looking up once again, blessing Tony with their beauty. But there was something wrong on them, for some reason they were shining with crystal clear tears and it was just breaking Tony’s heart.

“Of course you can, when have I been able to say ‘No’ to you? If I was able, that little demon would not be taking over the place.” He said while pointing with his thumb the cat now stretched out all over the rug, absorbing all the warmth the fireplace was sending. The boy let out a soft sob, a broken laugh coming out his lips. “Come on, tell me.”

And at that point, he was expecting for the boy to change his mind, to beg him to stop and not destroy everything they had created. Tony had a tendency of fucking everything up and Peter was there to make him a better person every day, this had to be the way for him to tell him that he was just going too far and it needed to end.

But nobody, not even for a genius as himself, would have been able to predict what came out of his mouth.

“After everything is over, I mean we bring everybody back, can we… um…” The boy stopped, took a deep breath and then swallowed. Tony took a quick look at Peter’s watch and he thought his heart stop for a second when he notice how nervous he was. Slowly, he grabbed his hand, trying to comfort him as much as he could and avoid getting him into a higher stress level. “Can we just… have one last night together? Before you shut me down?

Yeah, Tony’s heart definitely stopped for a moment. Or was he going on a cardiac arrest?

“What?” Was all he manage to say, pretty sure stammer, when those words finally hit him.

“I mean, you don’t have to. You don’t owe me anything, I just thought… well, I don’t know what I thought, you don’t have to take me to dinner or anything, I would be happy with just the two of us here or wherever you like— you could stay with me until I sleep, that would be nice. I’m not picky, I would be happy with anything, just— ”

“Peter stop!” Tony had to say firmly, just loud enough to be able to stop Peter’s anxious babbling but low enough in order to not wake Liz up.

“I’m sorry, did I overstep?” Peter looked at him with wide eyes, surprise when he notice Tony’s eyes shinny with tears. For a brief moment, Peter felt the need to tear off his vocal cords or, at least, what simulated them.

Right now, they were been useless.

He knew he was not good with words and yeah, Tony was not good with either but he was just a disaster. Most of the time he would stumbled on syllables and sometimes his sentences would just not make sense because he would get too flustered and his anxiety would just choke him down until he notice that everything he had been doing was rumble, speaking half sentences that barely make sense.

“Peter.” The boy looked up when he hear his voice, noticing how Tony looked worried. “I can literally see you overthinking, calm down.” He said in the softest voice he had. Peter nodded.

“I just thought… you’ll have your Peter back, why would you still want me?”

“‘Why would I still want you?’ Peter, are you serious?” The boy just froze in place, feeling guilty as how frustrated the man sounded. “Is this because of what Scott said earlier? God, I’m gonna kill that bastard.”

“No! No, no. It’s nothing like that, well, kinda? But it’s not his fault, I knew it would happen some day and it’s fine.”

“You knew…” Tony stayed silent for a few seconds, his mind working full speed in all the information and actitudes that he had notice on Peter during his time alive that did not seem to fit in place, for example his surprising come out of early that day. “Okay, wonder boy. Since when did you know?”

“Since always? It was weird the second time I woke up and I had doubts so I asked F.R.I.D.A.Y. if she could—“

“F.R.I.D.A.Y. huh?”

“Please don’t be mad at her, I asked her to not say anything to you. She recommended to erase those memories but I wanted to keep them.” Tony just stayed silent for a few seconds, staring at nothing in particular.

“I see.”

“Are you mad?” The older man just snorted at that.

“No, Pete. I’m not, I’m just trying to understand you.”

“Well, to be completely honest I don’t even understand myself.”

“Yeah and I’m pretty sure those memories help a lot, don’t they?” Tony mocked, then he took a deep breath. “I’m not gonna get rid of you after all of this ends.”

“Really?” Peter couldn’t help ask, his eyes filling with hope. Tony let out a small laugh, standing up from the couch and kneeling right in front of the boy so they could be at the same leverage.

“Yeah. In fact, I’m not letting anything happen to you.” He said, staring right into the boys eyes. “We will do this but, after all of this ends, we are done. I’ll take you somewhere where I can protect you and where no one, not even S.H.I.L.D., will ever be able to find us. I’ll hack the whole system if I have to but I won’t lose you or risk you.” Tony finished, he’s voice getting stronger and more confident as he kept talking.

“Tony…”

“You can’t exactly talk me out of it, it had been settle for quite some time now.” Tony said with a smirk. “I’ve done enough for the world, I deserve an early retirement, don’t you think?” Peter giggle at that, only making Tony’s feel warmer inside. “And besides there’s a lot of young superheroes out there that are ready to take over my and others places, the world won’t need me anymore with them in charge.”Peter just smile, knowing full well that it would be useless to go against him. The world would probably always need Iron Man but, for now, it was a good enough answer so he nodded, putting his arms around the older man's neck.

“Take me to bed?” He asked in a whisper, making Tony's face soften.

“My pleasure.”


	2. The things we have at risk of losing

Steve Rogers did not want to say that they were defeated, but sadly it did look like it. Putting other people at risk was never part of the plan but today, after seen what Scott had gone through and the risk of losing him after some mistake in an equation, he notice that the plan wasn’t even that trustworthy.

His hands were still shaking at the fear of just making everything worst and he couldn’t stop replying different scenarios were things could had gone completely different today and maybe Scott wouldn’t even be here to tell it. Part of himself knew that they had been lucky that, somehow, things work out for them in a way. But improvising to get someone back after messing up could not be a viable plan.

Steve took a deep breath, lowering his gaze. For the first time in his life he did not know what to do, not even after having someone bring him a solution, he was stuck and he hate it.

And then the roar of a car engine broke through the silence.

Frowning, Steve looked up, astonish when the first thing that caught his eyes was an outrageously expensive car approaching the Avengers compound at nearly the speed of light, hitting the breaks at the right time so it wouldn’t run him over.

He must say he was pretty much speechless when the window of the car roll down to reveal Tony Stark’s unreadable face, he even opened his mouth to say something when it finally hit him that the man was actually there but he just close it again, looking away as he felt kind of uncomfortable and confuse. He had heard the man the other day during his speech and he did not blame him for being cautious, he understood Tony had too much in line to just risk it all.

And yet here he was.

“Why the long face? Let me guess, he turn into a baby.” Tony started saying and Steve had to do his best effort to not start laughing. Of course the first thing the man would do would be tease him. Steve just limited himself to nod, his eyes wandering around.

“Among other thing, yeah. What are you doing here?”

“Is the EPR paradox.” Tony answered simply, opening the door and starting to get out of the car. “Instead of pushing Lang through time you might up wound up pushing time through Lang. It’s tricky, dangerous. Somebody could have cautioned you against it.” Tony finished, sarcasm filling his voice while he avoided eye contact. He knew that, if he looked at Steve's confuse face, he wouldn’t stop himself at laughing at the soldier for their lack of common sense. Steve stood silence for a few seconds and then he nod.

“You did.” He said, swallowing his pride, the ghost of a smile on his face.

“Oh did I?” Tony asked with false surprise. “Well, thank god I’m here.” He mocked, batting his eyelashes. “Regardless, I fix it.” He started his speech, proudly showing his hand where the solution to their problem laid to a very perplexed Captain. “A fully functioning time space GPS.” He said and, finally, the smile appeared freely in Steves face. Then Tony made a peace sign with his fingers. “I just want peace.”

“Me too.” The captain said, the smile never disappearing even if he still had trouble believing his eyes. But then something crossed his mind and, even though he hated the idea, he had to ask out of curiosity. “What made you change your mind?”

“I didn’t.” Tony said with a grunt, closing the door of the car behind him. “But I created someone who goes against what I think, saying that we needed to do the right thing. “At that, Tony stopped for a second, rolling his eyes.“Or something like that ‘cause he is a better person than any of us will ever be which reminds me.” Tony pointed Steve with his finger, playfully. “That thing you said about him being dangerous, not cool. You should probably apologize, captain. You said a really naughty thing to him.”

“I will.” Steve assured him, nodding and relaxing a bit. He should do more than apologize, that boy was a miracle if he was even able to make Tony change his mind. But of course he and his team screwed up and, even if Peter looked sweet, he needed to know the damage their words cause. “Was he mad?”

“Who? Peter? No, he never gets mad. Actually scratch that, he does get mad but that’s usually when I fucked up and you don’t want to be around him when that happens. I do ‘cause I’m an asshole and deserve it.” Steve let out a small laugh when Tony finished talking, then the man clicked his tongue. “Anyway, If we got a shoot on getting the stones then I’ll help.” Tony assured the soldier, looking straight at him. “But after all of this is over, I’m out. I’ll disappear and you are not allow to look for me, not even the super spy that I know is there and probably listening to us right now.” Tony said and even if he tried to joke a bit, he had never sounded more serious in his life. “This is my last mission.” Tony finished, taking a few steps forward. “Oh and also,maybe not die trying would be nice.” And at that Steve nodded, extending his right hand.

“Sounds like a deal.” He said and the older man stretched his hand. Deep down, he understood Tony's terms. The man had given everything for the world this last years, losing more than anyone should for others and now he was risking everything once again for people that didn’t even completely like him. He understood that he needed to finally live his life away from being a superhero, the man deserve that.

Tony then looked at the floor for a few seconds, his mind finally coming to terms with what he was about to do. Finally he nodded and made a gesture for the soldier to follow him, going to the back of the car an opening the trunk. Steve looked, curious while Tony picked something up from it, a few toys over it. Then, he dump them, revealing the blue and red colors of the Captain America’s shield, the pearlescent white star shining with full pride.

Steve couldn’t suppress the nostalgic look in his face, broken memories filling his head and some other that he wasn’t very proud of. He wasn’t sure he was still worth of caring that emblem with him.

“Tony, I don’t know.” He mumble, looking at the shield as if it was way out of his reach.

“Why?” Tony questioned and before the captain was even able to talk himself down, the older man kept talking. “He made it for you.” Tony said, deep serious. Then he raised both of his eyebrows, nodding and passing on the shield. “Plus, honestly I have to get it out of the lab before Liz keeps stealing it to make more Captain America impressions.” He said, rolling his eyes. “She is a good girl but she doesn’t have very good taste, I’ll probably send her an armor once she is old enough so she knows that technology is way cooler than an old shield with shiny colors.” Steve stared at the shield a few seconds, testing the balance and once again adjusting at the weight of it in his hand and arm.

“Thanks you, Tony.” Steve said, pure honesty filling his voice as he raised his gaze to look at the man in front of him. Then something seemed to hit him, something that didn’t quite fit in the last sentence his friend said. Frowning he asked. “‘Send her?’ I thought she lived with you.”

And at that Tony let out a long sight, his eyes wandering nowhere in particular, just getting lost in the landscape around him. Then he nodded, swallowing.

“Well, for now, she does. She’ll go back with her parents once we get them back.” The older man said shortly and even though Steve was looking at a stone cold face, he knew Tony was just destroyed on the inside. That one sentence seem to be like ice cold water thrown right into the soldiers face. The man who had always looked like an egocentric human being before the eyes of him and the world was standing right in front of him, completely devastated but willingto give everything up just to save others.

“Tony, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know that… I should had asked, I thought she was—”

“Another android?” Tony mocked, shaking his head. “Yeah, no. Peter actually found Liz, her parents disappeared with the snap and there was no sight of other relatives. He begged me for weeks to allow him to adopt her, it seemed like there was something on Liz that just awoke on Peter a feeling to protect her at all costs the moment he lay eyes on her.” By now Tony's eyes were shining with tears and it was surprising how steady his voice sounded, not even breaking once. “When we adopt her we were told that, even if it was unlikely, we had to sign a few documents where it was settled that, if ever the snap was reverted, we would have to give her back to her parents.” When Tony finished talking, he let out a broken laugh. “Never in a million years we would have guest that we would be the cause of our baby girl being taken away but, once again, something about doing the right thing.” Tony finished, closing the door of the trunk maybe a bit too harsh.

“Tony, I’m really sor—”

“Don’t wanna hear it.” Tony said quickly, not wanted to hear Steve pitting him. “We already discussed this and I wouldn’t be doing this if Peter wasn’t completely sure of this decision.” He said and then paused for a second. “Which he is not but he is incapable of being selfish and he would have never forgive me if I had turned my back on you so consider yourself lucky.”

But Steve did not felt lucky. He felt horrible anyway, guilt swallowing him completely. The only person that was able to try and move on after all this catastrophe was about to lose it all in order for others to have a chance of remaking their life and getting back what they lost.

Look at it in any angle you want, it was not not and it would never be fair.

“Does she know?” Steve asked, his voice filled with anguish. Tony shrugged, letting out a sight.

“As far as a six year old can understand but, in any case, it won’t be easy for her.” The man said, getting lost in thoughts. Then shook his head. “Don’t feel bad, cap. Save that for when I kick your ass if you ever come back looking for me ‘cause this is the last sacrifice I make. I won’t lose him, by any chance. I’ll do anything in my power to keep him safe, even fight you and any kind of superhero team that you decide to put together.” Tony said, crossing his arms, a smirk on his lips. “Speaking of which, we are getting a whole team, yeah?”

Steve nodded.

“We are working on that right now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never said all the chapters would be good ones. Not very proud of this one but I hope the next one is better. 
> 
> And don't worry, not all chapters will be about Endgame but those would be probably posted as a separate part of the series, before the movie.
> 
> One last thing, would you like to read a chapter about Peter finding Liz? Let me know your thought! I swear that helps a lot!


	3. Improvising is part of the plan

“Hey!”

Well, time travel would never be easy, would it?

“Door is this way, pal.” Howard Stark said and, in all honesty, Tony never though he would ever be hearing that voice ever again. Besides living in his mind rent free for the only purpose of tormenting him.

Tony turned around, in a quick move turning his smart glasses off, facing his dad. Didn’t that sound weird? It sound very weird for Tony and he just wanted to run away before he transformed mentally in small nervous and frightened child ready to started babbling his way out.

“Oh, um… Yeah, yeah.” He muttered, starting to walk, if not running, to the exit. And also lowering his gaze because, at that moment, it made sense that the other man could recognize his unborn son.

“I’m looking for doctor Zola, did you see him?”

“Yeah, Doctor Zola. No, I haven’t seen a soul.” Tony stuttered, looking way too much at what was in front of him. But not to what was around him, causing the case to crash into a chair. “Pardon me.”

He should be thankful that it did not open at that hit.

Taking into consideration that he was way too nervous to keep holding the case, he decided to put it down for a second, trying to get the attention away from him by fixing his outfit.

Why was he doing this again? Oh yeah, something about doing the right thing.

“Do I know you?” Howard asked and that probably was enough to start scaring Tony off.

Not that he should be nervous about anything, he only just force open a lock with a laser,that may or may not had left an intoxicating burned metal smell in the room, and stole one of the most powerful source of energy on earth.

Nothing to be worried about.

“No, sir.” He said quickly, taking off his glasses. “I’m uh… a visitor from the MIT.” In a fast move, he took out a fake personal identification, showing it for a few seconds before putting it back in his pocket. Is was surprising to see that his shaky hands didn’t drop the item.

“Huh, MIT.” The other man repeated, and it looked like it had worked. “Got a name?”

“Howard” Tony said in a blurt and then he wince. He really didn’t think this through. Howard scoff at that answer.

“Well, that will be easy to remember.” He mocked even if his face was dead serious. “Last name.”

“Potts.” He said quickly. Because why not bring memories of how Tony disappointed his ex fiancé. Howard nodded, staring at him for a few seconds. Then his gaze went down to the suitcase, raising an eyebrow.

“Let me take a look at that.”

And with that, a cold shiver went through Tony’s back. 

“Oh, you don’t want to see it, security already did and left it a mess.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure that if you already went through security, they already told you that this is a restricted area.” Howard said, crossing his arms. “And MIT visitors are definitely not allow in this area.”

That was the worst part of improvising, not having a back up story for every question. Honestly, they should have known that it would not be easy to infiltrate a military vase but also, it was funny how Howard was still able to ruined Tony’s life and make it more difficult.

“Yeah, I um…”

“So what are you doing here?”

“Nothing serious, I just got curious and…”

“Curious huh.” The other man said. “That won’t work here, pal. So you better start cooperating or…” Howard glare was suddenly in something behind Tony. “Is that smoke?” He asked, also noticing the smell of burnt metal in the air. He stopped paying attention to Tony for a few seconds, passing right through his son in order to check what was going on.

Of course he would notice that.

“I should really get going…” Tony started saying but then a strong grip was in his arm, stopping him.

“You’ll be leaving but with security after you tell them what you’ve done here.” The man sentence, his eyes full of anger. Tony was pretty sure that Howard already knew what had happened.“Who are you working for?”

“I’m not…”

“You being here is dangerous, you can’t get near that…”

“Mr. Stark!” A deep voice made itself heard, making both man focus their attention on the door, specifically the soldier that was standing over there.

“Yes?” Howard asked, frowning.

“Sorry for interrupting, sir, but Dr. Arnim Zola is requesting your presence in his office. He said it’s important.” The man said. Tony couldn’t help but focus his eyes on him, watching as he was saving his ass while standing straighter than Steve. 

“Before I go, can you tell me what this man is doing over here? I thought there was security.” After hearing those words, the soldier’s eyes got bigger with nervousness, instantly freezing in place while, at the same time, he tried his best not to show it. His green eyes landed on Tony for a second and then back to the other man.

“Of course, sir. It’s unclear to me how he got in here, I’ll call security. This won’t go unsupervised.” The man answered, nodding. Then he took out a communicator, ready to make a call and Howard looked please at that.

Not Tony, definitely not him. He was already searching his mind for a plan where it did not involve showing of futuristic technology, tackling his father and killing a soldier. That was definitely not a good solution but they were so close, they couldn’t just failed again.

“Very well, I’ll be on my way.” Howard finally said, starting to walk out of the room. Thank god, one down. “Have this man search, I expect a report on my desk about this incident.”

“Yes, sir.” The soldier answered as Howard walked right past him, having one last look at Tony and then nodding when the other man started to make an attempted to communicate with security, then he left.

Right now, Tony had just one option and, even though he hated it, there wasn’t much he could do to get out of this situation. Besides, the soldier would probably be forgiven when they succeed and bring the tesseract back, it was just a short punishment.

At least that’s what he tried to convince himself to think as he watched the soldier in front of him trying to get a hold of security, who seemed to be quite busy as they kept putting him on stand by.

Tony just hopped that they hadn’t caught Steve yet. And also a bit thankful that maybe, just maybe, he was buying him some time.

In a stealthy move, he guided his hand to his glasses, ready to pull one of his hand repulsors out.

Then the soldier cut the communication.

“You should get going.” He said in a quiet voice but much more confident as before.

Wait, what?

That couldn’t be right, or could it? Tony refused to believe that they had an alley in this year and Steve wouldn’t be dumb enough to show his identity and have someone save Tony’s ass. Scratch that, Steve could be dumb but he would not go that far.

Was Hydra infiltrating the base for the same thing as they were? He did not remember that kind of event happening at this year in the timeline.

And then, Tony took a closer look at the soldier, a faint glow in his left wrist being slightly cover by the beige sleeve of his jacket. Tony closed his eyes and shook his head,trying to get a hold on himself. That could not be right, he must be seeing things.

Wait a second.

“That watch is pretty modern for this time, don’t you think?” Tony said, loudly enough to make the soldier stop when he started walking pretty fast to the exit the moment he notice Tony staring at him for quite some time.

Busted.

“Um, what?”

“You hear me.” Tony said defiantly, then he made a gesture to point his whole face. “Take it off.”

And so, the soldier gulped. One moment Tony was looking at deep green eyes and, after a blink, those eyes turned into honey brown and cobalt blue. Black hair changing into chocolate brown curls.

Was this some Mission Impossible shit?

“Okey, hear me out.”

“I’m gonna kill you.”

“I may have stolen the designs of the suits and made a copy…”

“I don’t wanna hear it.”

“And also left Liz with Happy when he happily accepted to look after her today. Oh and also Shawarma so she is in good hands? Paws…?”

“I’m gonna kill you.”

“And maybe I convinced Scott to lie to you about the number of Pin particles available…”

“I’m gonna kill both of you.”

“And you happened to not lock the compound down when the time machine was activated…”

“Definitely going to kill you.”

“And I just save you which I knew I would probably have to do so…” But Peter could not finish talking. In a quick move, a hand had graved the collar of his beige shirt, pushing his body against the older man's one, Peter’s mind short-circuiting at the feeling of Tony’s lips against his.

But before Peter could even get use to the feeling, Tony pulled away with a smirk in his face, watching as Peter blushed softly with just a small peck. As if it was a sin, the boy’s hands went up to covered his own mouth, big puppy eyes staring right at Tony with nothing but astonishment and a bit of adoration. The older man just laugh.

“Let’s go fucking find Steve before I change my mind and decide to dismantle you and sell your pieces on e-bay.” Peter gulped, nodding a couple of times.

“Fair is fair.” He mumble, watching as Tony walked right past him, winking at him when he got to the door, awaiting for the android to put his feet back on earth.

Sadly, he did not. Peter was dizzy, his knees feeling like jelly, ready to give in at any moment. That was not right, something must have broken during time travel.

“I think I’m malfunctioning.” He mumble, blinking a few times. Tony just frown.

“Huh? Why?”

“I feel funny, like maybe something messed me up during time travel?” He asked, big brown innocent eyes being corrupted by a bit of fear while they stared at Tony, who just smirk.

“Funny, huh? As if dopamine and serotonin were flying right into your brain? And maybe epinephrine is running through your body?” Tony asked, his tone of voice sassy. Peter’s plush lips pulled apart in a small ‘O’.

“Oh…” Was all that came out of his mouth, making a hard effort to pull himself together. He looked down at his sweaty hands and then at Tony again.“So you broke me?”

Tony snort.

“Oh, so now is my fault.”Tony said, rolling his eyes. But the smirk on his lip showed that he was anything but annoyed, in fact, he seemed to be enjoying the situation. “Yeah, something like that. Let’s go.” He finally said, making a small signal with his hand. With wobbly steps, Peter followed him.

Once out of the room, Peter let out all the air he was holding when they arrived into an elevator, pressing the button to call for it. Once it opened, they stepped in.

“So, how the hell did you find us?” Tony finally asked the question that had been bothering him since the beginning.

“Um, Scott told me? He said that Loki run away with the Tesseract and now you were basically improvising which did not came as a surprise.” Peter said, rolling his eyes. “He was pretty sure you were going to 04-07-1970 so here I am.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Tony said, frowning. “Pretty sure? So he gave you a possible date and you just trust him?”

Peter shrugged.

“Um, yes?” He said, showing a big innocent smile while he stepped out of the elevator with Tony following him.

“Oh great, so he could have been wrong and you would be stuck in another time.”

“Technically, I do have a spare particle, I would have been able to come back. You, on the other hand, would be in prison if it wasn’t for me.”

“So I should thank you for disobeying?” 

“You should thank me for saving your ass.”

“I told you to stay at home, with Liz.” Tony said, anger starting to fill his voice.

“Well, yeah. Sadly you don’t control me.” Peter talked back, showing a sweet smile. Then he spotted Steve Rogers hiding near some trucks, looking somehow lost, deep in thoughts. The first thing that cross Peter’s mind was that something had gone wrong with the plan but no, that was not the face of failure.

That was the face of a person who had stumbled with someone who thought long lost and now was out of his reach.

“Everything all right?” Tony asked when they got near, the captain nod, avoiding eye contact.

“Yeah. Yes, I am.” He answered, his voice deep with angst. “Did you found it?” He asked, looking up. He couldn’t help open his eyes in amused when he recognize Tony’s company.

“Sadly, I found more than just the Tesseract.” He said, lifting one hand to show the metal case and then the other one, showing his intertwine fingers with Peter. “Long story.”

“I bet it is.”

.

.

.

.

.

“Did we get them all?” Was the first thing that came out of Tony’s mouth as he was still trying to stabilize himself after the journey during the quantum realm. Luckily, everyone seemed to be excited, smiles adorning their faces as they stare at each other to check that the plan had worked. Each group had the stones that they went out there to look.

Finally, the small hope that they had was paying off.

Without second thinking, Tony looked next to him, relief when he saw his boy smiling at him, safe from time travel and completely unharmed. From the moment he saw Peter on the vase, his top priority became bringing him back safely. Thank god he did.

“Are you telling me this actually worked?” Rhody joked as everyone took off their nanotech suits. “Wait, where the hell did you come from?” The man asked, frowning, his finger pointing at Peter who was only able to show shy smile.

“Hi.” He mumble, making a little wave with his left hand while the other one searched for Tony’s, looking for a little reassurance. He was not prepare to be around this many people.

But before anyone could ask any more questions, Clint Burton took a step forward, the first thing that caught everyone's attention was that his partner was nowhere to be seen. They did not need to question it. As stone cold as Clint’s face looked, they knew something was wrong.

“Clint, where’s Nat?” Bruce was the first one to ask, his voice full of innocent hope. But all of it crumble when Clint was not able to hold his pain, lowering his head for a couple of seconds as an excuse to assimilate that her best friend was actually gone, and she was not coming back no matter what.

_Whatever it takes._

With eyes full of crystal clear tears, he confronted his friends, his face showing nothing but grief as a single tear run down his cheek. It was his fault, he should had been stronger, he should had fight more, he was the one that should be lying in Vormir lifeless. Not Natasha, never Natasha.

Suddenly, his knees give in, falling onto the floor with a hard thump. From his lips escaping a broken sob as he felt nothing but miserable, worthless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I said not all chapters would be good ones? Well, I meant it. It was so difficult to write this and I suck at romance so yeah, that kiss is garbage but oh well. In my head it looked great, not so much here. Also, I'm more used to writing scripts rather that stories? So sometimes it gets difficult but I'm really REALLY hoping that the next one will be better. 
> 
> One last thing, if I take so much time between chapters is because I procrastinate and start writing other chapters instead of continuing the story in order. 
> 
> Oh and also, a little Markiplier reference for your enjoyment!

**Author's Note:**

> First of all thanks for reading this, honestly this is the first story that I write and I hope I did a decent job, that everything made sense and that you actually enjoy it. I'll probably be writing a couple more chapters, especially the little's cat story but for now I don't know, let me know what you think!  
> Also, I write to learn because english is not my first language so if you have any suggestions or grammar corrections, I will happily read them!  
> Thanks again and I hope you had a good time reading, see you around!


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